Newsletter #80 | UCF's QR Codes, Antoine Davis, Georgia Tech's Collective + ICYMI Ticker
Welcome to the NIL Newsletter by Optimum Sports Consulting - providing valuable, actionable NIL resources for athletes, administrators, agencies and other sport professionals.
Recapping NIL This Week:
UCF Football takes unique uniform approach to NIL
During UCF’s spring game, players donned custom QR codes on the back of their jerseys in place of the traditional number. The QR code linked back to the player’s profile on the UCF athletics website.
On the UCF website, each player will have links to their social media profiles. This innovative approach to the spring game further emphasizes the changing times across college athletics in the NIL era.
This approach is not the first of its kind for UCF in the NIL era. Last spring, UCF geared up for its game with different lookuniforms, just like this year. Last spring game, though, Knights players had their Twitter handles on the back of their jerseys on their nameplates.
“Last year, we put Twitter handles on our jerseys. I was like, ‘What the heck am I doing?’” Malzahn said, via Sports Illustrated’s Ross Dellenger. “We wanted to be the school that embraced it. At the old traditional schools, there’s a lot of dynamics. Yeah, they’re for it but really, they’re not for it. We are a school that can fully embrace it—the young school, social media. It fits with us.
NIL money played big role in Antoine Davis' decision to leave Detroit Mercy
Antoine Davis' surprising decision to transfer from Detroit Mercy, where he was coached by his father for four years, was made, at least in part, because of NIL opportunities, Mike Davis told The Detroit News.
Since Antoine Davis made his announcement Thursday, he has heard directly from no fewer than 17 schools, and indirectly, through his dad, from several others. Among the schools known to already have made contact: Alabama, Auburn, Central Florida, Cincinnati, Georgetown, Georgia Tech, Hofstra, Kansas, Kansas State, Kentucky, LSU, Maryland, Memphis, Minnesota, Ohio State, Purdue and South Carolina. Antoine hasn't yet scheduled any official visits.
Mike Davis said there's a good chance Antoine Davis could earn well into the six figures on an NIL deal at a school more high-profile than Detroit Mercy, where there are no current sponsorship deals for players. "If I wasn't his coach, I would tell him to do exactly what he did," Davis said. "You have a chance to make a half-million to a million dollars in NIL, and you put that money in the bank and you don't spend it ... let it sit for 10 years, that's pretty impressive.
Antoine Davis played four seasons for the Titans, and became the program's all-time leading scorer this year. With a fifth season afforded by the COVID-19 pandemic, he'll have a chance to challenge for the NCAA's all-time Division I scoring record. He was first-team all-Horizon League all four years, and was co-league player of the year this season.
Georgia Tech NIL collective preparing to launch
Stephen Weitzel, a Georgia Tech alumnus and a major donor to the athletic department, is set to launch Swarm the TL, an NIL collective for Yellow Jackets student athletes.
“We’re within the first 12 months of NIL actually being a thing,” Weitzel told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “But not having a public-facing NIL entity like this is really similar to being a major corporation in the mid-90′s that didn’t have a web page.”
No fewer than 38 colleges have an established collective, according to college sports media company On3, some more than one, including six ACC schools. “I think it’s the new frontier,” said Corey Staniscia, external affairs director of Dreamfield, which has set up collectives for Florida State and Central Florida and will partner with Tech supporters for Swarm the ATL.
“People ask about NIL,” men’s basketball coach Josh Pastner told the AJC. “Not everybody does, but some do. I think the NIL is important because it’s great for student-athletes to get extra opportunities … In reality, in today’s climate, for both recruiting and retention, NIL opportunities and collectives are important. However, everything still has to be done within NCAA rules.”
The collective will act something like a club. Fans can pay monthly fees and in return will receive access to Tech players and other perks. The price points will be $10, $25, $100, $250 and $500 per month, Weitzel said. The access could take the form of a meet-and-greet, interaction over a videoconference, dinners or events like a trip to TopGolf. Weitzel tossed out the possibility of playing catch with Tech football players or shooting baskets with members of the basketball team. Higher-level subscribers could have benefits like tickets to join suite owners for football games or sit courtside at basketball games.
ICYMI Ticker
Virginia Tech AD Whit Babcock, has confirmed that a trio of NIL collectives have offered their services to Tech student athletes, businesses and donors. Babcock indicated the following three organizations have chosen to align with the Hokies: Commonwealth NIL - Commonwealth NIL is a New River Valley based company founded by former Virginia State Delegate Nick Rush and Tech alum Forrest Rush. Commonwealth NIL specializes in comprehensive, diverse, and innovative NIL solutions. Commonwealth NIL is raising resources for NIL contracts through events, activities and special sales with a unique focus in the Commonwealth of Virginia. // Hot Route Marketing, LLC - Hot Route Marketing has taken a different approach than other organizations in the NIL space. Under the leadership of Virginia Tech alum Kelly Woolwine, Hot Route Marketing, LLC represents a vehicle in which business, donors and fans can invest into a consolidated pool of resources from which NIL opportunities can be arranged for student-athletes. // Triumph NIL, LLC - Triumph NIL seeks to partner corporate clients with Tech student-athletes to build compelling campaigns that drive real results, in addition to offering platforms for donors and fans to support their favorite Hokies. This group is led by James Cowan, chairman at CowanPerry PC and also includes former Tech All-America running back, Kevin Jones.
Dawn Staley was talking NIL on The Breakfast Club show.
Miami FB HC Mario Christobal: “I think it’s obvious to the rest of the world that if you want to compare what’s being done here with everywhere else, it’s pretty obvious Miami is blowing people away. And not by a little.”
Nebraska announced it has created the Nebraska Huskers Marketplace, one of the first licensed school NIL marketplaces in college sports. The Opendorse powered marketplace will maximize NIL support for Husker student athletes. Full announcement HERE.
Great interview from On3 with MOGL Co-Founder Ayden Syal.
University of Washington FB HC Kalen DeBoer: “From a year ago to where (NIL) is at now, I’m sure there’s a lot of things that we never imagined it would be. I’m sure it’ll change in the next six to 12 months as well. We probably don’t know what it’s going to be a year from now. You’ve got to adjust and just continue to stay the course and do what’s right. The word ‘sustainable’ is probably a good one to question: is it or not? It seems like at the pace it’s going, I think at the pace right now, there’s a lot of places where it would be hard (to compete). If you do things right and build a good foundation — in our case, what we have around us — it can be sustainable.”
Collectives are becoming so popular, that reporters are now criticizing programs that do not have one. Case in point, this article from the Star Tribune- which questions why the Minnesota Gophers don’t have one.